Serbian public TV apologizes to viewers after Vucic's election defeat

Serbia's public broadcaster RTV Vojvodina has publicly apologized to viewers for years of one-sided coverage. The statement came after Aleksandar Vucic, who ran for prime minister, lost Sunday's election in Serbia to the student movement.

“Public broadcasting has failed to do its job for many years. A lot was left unsaid, a lot was overlooked, information was presented one-sidedly, reporting was uncritical, and the right questions were not asked, or no questions at all. And for that we must apologize to our viewers,” said Eror, as quoted by the TV channel N1.

According to him, a group of RTV employees fought to let journalists and editors work freely and by ethical principles. “Unfortunately, we did not win that fight in time, but we believe it is worth fighting for,” he said. At the staff's demand, Nenad Cacic, editor-in-chief of RTV Vojvodina's first channel, stepped down.

Vucic, the former president and leader of the party “United Serbia,” conceded defeat. Turnout in the election was unusually high. The student movement grew out of almost two years of anti-government protests. They began after the tragedy in November 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad, killing 16 people. For critics of the government, the disaster became a symbol of corruption and negligence.

A similar step was taken in Hungary: in July, the state broadcaster M1 apologized after Viktor Orban lost the parliamentary election and Peter Magyar won. “Public media cannot lie. We ask forgiveness for doing so for so many years,” read a message that appeared on screens and on the website at the time. The channel's news programs were temporarily suspended.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz